The Bakery
by TheCompanionsAreCalling
Summary: Clara tells her children the story of how she met their mother. (How I Met Your Mother themed. Clara/Nina)


"Kids, I think it's about your mother." Clara said, looking across from her at the two beautiful children sitting before her. "I think you'll like this story."

-x-

"_It all started with a bakery." _

Clara walked into the bakery with a tired sigh. She headed to the front and pulled out her purse. "I'm here for my batch of cupcakes. It's under the name 'Clara'."

The person across the counter nodded and turned around, sifting through a group of large bags before pulling one out and handing it to her. She handed them the money and turned around, bumping into someone and dropping her cupcakes. "Sorry!" The woman said.

Clara shook her head and said, "Don't worry about it." She knelt down and immediately checked, sighing in exasperation as she saw that the cupcakes were very much ruined. She picked them up and finally looked at the woman, a small smile forcing itself onto her lips. "Hi, I'm Clara." She said.

"_And that, kids, is how I met your Aunt Rose." _

Rose smiled back and extended her hand. "Rose Tyler. Sorry about the cupcakes, I'll pay for a new batch."

Clara shook her hand and said, "No, it's fine, really. I just kind of needed these for… well for my primary school class. But it's no big deal, really."

Rose frowned and said, "I can't let those poor primary schoolers to be missing out on cupcakes! No, it's fine. I'll pay for a new batch." Clara was about to protest when Rose raised her hand and said, "No complaining." She smiled and walked past Clara, ordering more cupcakes.

Clara sat down at one of the tables and smiled as she watched Rose order the cupcakes. When Rose came over and sat down across from her Clara said, "Thank you, this makes my day like ten times easier to deal with."

Rose waved over a waitress and said, "Could we have two teas please?" The waitress nodded and Rose turned back to Clara.

"Wait, you can order tea here?" Clara asked in confusion.

"Yeah, it's a coffee shop."

"But I thought it was a bakery? It says so on the sign outside."

"It's also a coffee shop. I think I'd know, my boyfriend's father kind of owns this place."

Clara nodded and said, "Ah, then I shouldn't really be objecting. So… boyfriend?"

Rose smiled and said, "Yeah, his name is John. He has _great_ hair."

Clara smiled too and said, "He sounds wonderful. Were you meeting him here?"

Rose quickly tipped the waitress as she set down their teas and took a sip of hers. "Yeah. He should be here any moment. We should probably move to a booth so there's enough room for him to sit." Clara nodded her agreement and they quickly moved to a booth. "So, why is me buying you cupcakes making your day ten times easier to deal with? Something bothering you?"

"Well, I woke up this morning to find that my boyfriend broke up with me via text, then I realized that I'd woken up late and I had to hurry to catch the tube, ended up missing the tube and getting sopping wet with rain, so I wasn't able to go in to teach today, called the school and told them I was sick, and then I nearly got mugged on my way here to buy cupcakes to make up for my absence tomorrow." Clara said before taking a large gulp of her tea.

Rose's eyes went wide and she set one of her hands on top of Clara's. "Wow, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Is there any way I can bribe that waitress to put alcohol in this?" Clara replied, trying not to let Rose's hand placement distract her.

Rose chuckled and moved her hand away. "Yeah, Sally's pretty okay about that stuff, but I don't think alcohol and tea would taste good together." Rose said before taking another sip of her tea.

Suddenly a tall man with dark, really _amazing_, hair sat down next to Rose. "Hello, Rose. Who's this?" He asked enthusiastically.

"Blimey, you were right about his hair." Clara said.

Rose nodded and said, "I know, right?"

He frowned at the two and said, "What about my hair? Does it not look good? I spent over an hour on it... I mean, like ten minutes on it this morning." He said, looking away. Rose reached up to ruffle it and he moved away, his eyes wide in horror. She laughed at him and he breathed out, seemingly still in shock.

"You know I would never ruin your perfect hair, Sweetie." Rose said, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Clara smiled at the couple and said, "So, how long have you two been together?"

John looked down and smiled at Rose. "Well, we met in uni, so I'd say, I don't know…" He looked up before saying, "Six years."

"Six _years_?!" Clara asked, her eyes wide.

Rose smiled and said, "Has it been that long? It feels like just yesterday I was pushed against the closet wall, my hand running through your hair, your lips-"

"Okay, that's enough information." Clara said.

Rose nodded and said, "Right. Well, John, this is Clara. I accidentally ruined her cupcakes, so I paid for a new batch. She's had a pretty rough day."

John nodded and said, "Well, I'm sorry about that, Clara. But it's nice to meet you."

Rose said, "So, who was this old boyfriend of yours?"

Clara sighed and said, "Well, he was really sweet actually. American, was studying abroad. We'd been together for like six months, then out of nowhere I see the text on my phone that said, 'I'm sorry, but this isn't working out. We're going to have to break up.' And I haven't heard from him since. His name was Ted, Ted Mosby. To be fair, we didn't have much in common."

"_Your Aunt Rose had said something after that, but I wasn't really listening. Because across the room… I saw her." _

Clara watched as a beautiful brunette entered the bakery. She had suddenly found it hard to breathe, but she didn't even notice, because the brunette turned to her… and smiled. Clara smiled back, pretty sure her breathing had permanently stopped. Then the girl turned away, still smiling that wonderful smile, and started walking toward the front.

"Clara?" Rose asked, snapping Clara out of it. "Clara, are you okay?"

Clara turned back to Rose, her breathing returning to normal. "Oh, um, yeah, fine. Just having a bit of trouble breathing. Must be the weather." She downed the rest of her tea. "Anyway, I'm over him." She turned back, watching as the brunette left. "Definitely over him." She mumbled.

"I think that woman was carrying your cupcakes." John said, frowning.

"Hm?" Clara asked with a frown.

John nodded back towards the door. "The bad she was holding, it said 'Rose' on it. Rose bought you the new cupcakes, right?"

Clara immediately stood up and rushed to the counter. "Do you have the cupcakes under the name of Rose?" She asked.

The person behind the counter turned and frowned as he didn't find it. "Oh, damn it. I'm going to get fired again!" He muttered. He turned back to Clara and said, "Sorry, but I must've accidently gave them to the person that just walked out."

Clara smiled and ran out of the bakery, sighing in failure as she saw that the pavement was filled with people and that she'd never be able to find that one woman amidst the many that were speeding to their destinations. She turned around and walked back into the bakery, sliding into her booth opposite John and Rose.

"Well?" Rose asked.

"She's gone." Clara said sadly.

Rose frowned and said, "Hey, don't be so bummed about it. I'll just buy you another batch. It'll be fine." Clara smiled weakly and nodded.

"_But they didn't understand that I __**needed**__ to see that woman again, because never in all my life had I had that reaction from just __**seeing **__someone. But, of course, I didn't tell them that."_

"Thanks." She muttered.

-x-

"Hey, Rose." Clara said as she sat in the booth opposite Rose.

"Hey, Clara. By the way, I still don't know you're last name." Rose said with a chuckle.

Clara smiled and said, "Oswald. Um, can I talk to you about something?"

Rose nodded. "Sure, anything."

Clara breathed in. "Well, you know how yesterday there was that girl who accidently took my cupcakes?" Rose nodded. "Okay, so I might've, maybe, hunted her down after you guys left."

"Woah, someone likes their cupcakes." Rose said jokingly.

Clara smiled and said, "No, it wasn't about the cupcakes. It was just…"

"_And so I proceeded to tell Rose every single detail about what I felt when I first saw that woman. Because, you have to understand, Rose was the first person I could actually trust… in a long time." _

"Wow, that's… That's really…" Rose breathed out. "God, I wished I felt that when I looked at random women that steal my cupcakes."

Clara smirked and said, "Yeah."

"I can understand why you chased her down. Any luck?" She asked.

Clara shook her head sadly and said, "Nope. Not a trace. Did you feel like that when you first met John?"

Rose smiled and thought for a moment. "Probably, a little less overpowering than that, but yeah, something like that."

John smiled as he sat down next to Rose, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "What are we talking about?" He asked with a smile.

"Oh, just girl talk." Clara said, taking a sip of her tea.

John shrugged. "That's cool, just us girls."

Rose laughed and kissed his cheek. "We were just talking about how happy I am that I'm with you." She said with a warm smile.

He smiled back and kissed her on the lips. Clara smiled at the two before looking down. "Well, um, I've got to go. Thanks for the talk, Rose." Rose nodded as Clara left.

Clara stepped out into the street and started heading home. She was about to enter her flat when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see her. The brunette she saw in the bakery. Her breath caught in her throat as the woman said, "Um, I think I might've accidentally taken your cupcakes. Are these yours?"

"_And that's how I met your mother. But first, you have to understand what happened that lead her to find me." _

-x-

"_This is what happened after I left the bakery."_

"I have an idea." Rose said.

John smiled and said, "Is it that we head back to our flat?"

"No." Rose said with a chuckle. "It's to help Clara. She has a huge crush on that chick that stole her cupcakes yesterday. So we are going to find her for Clara."

John frowned and said, "Why would she like the person who stole her cupcakes?"

"It's hard to explain. Just come on." She pulled him out of the booth and led him to behind the counter of the bakery, John waving off the cashier. Rose started typing into the computer, pulling up the list of customers recorded from the day before. "So, this person came in after I ordered so…" She clicked on the name under hers and smiled. "Here it is." She pulled out her phone and dialed the number. "Hello? I believe you accidentally took my friend's cupcakes yesterday."

-x-

"Um, are you okay?" The brunette asked, watching as Clara tried to breathe correctly.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. And you can keep the cupcakes." She extended her hand. "I'm Clara Oswald."

"Nina Thomas." Nina said, shaking Clara's hand. "Sorry about the cupcakes."

Clara shook her head and said, "No, don't worry about it, really."

"_And that was when I realized that I had absolutely nothing to talk about with her. My mind went blank, and we kind of just stared at each other awkwardly. Until finally she said…" _

"Okay, I'm just going to come out and say it. I think you look very hot, and I think it would be great if we got to know each other. So, I'm Nina Thomas, I'm a writer, but I work as a librarian too. My favorite food is salad, and I love movies. Tell me about you."

Clara sighed and said, "Well, I teach in Primary School, I also think you look very hot, my life goal is to make the perfect soufflé, and I love to read books. That's pretty much it."

Nina smiled and said, "So you like kids?"

Clara smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, do you?"

"Of course! Who doesn't like kids?"

"I know, right!" Clara looked down and studied the ground for a moment before looking back up and saying, "Um, do you want to head back to the bakery and go hang out with some friends of mine? They'd probably like to meet you."

"Of course. Is this the same bakery that I accidently stole your cupcakes from?" She asked as they started walking back.

Clara nodded. "Yeah, actually." They both chuckled as they continued walking, eventually making it to the bakery. They sat down across from Rose and John and Clara said, "This is Nina."

Rose smiled and said, "Hello, Nina. I'm Rose, and this is my boyfriend John."

-x-

"_And that is the story of how I met your mother. Of course a lot of other stuff happened after that, but most of it I can't tell you about, because you're only in your preteens and you'd most likely not want to hear about it anyway. So, in conclusion, your mother was smart, beautiful, sometimes stupid, but I loved her. That's why we eventually decided to adopt you, and you were both only around one year old when she passed. She would've loved you two, she would've loved you two so much."_


End file.
